


Those Few Times Niou Tried to Date a God

by Galiko



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen, M/M, One-Sided Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-04-27
Packaged: 2018-01-20 23:04:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1529048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galiko/pseuds/Galiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niou is pretty sure he's good at the dating thing. He's pretty sure he's good at getting what he wants.</p><p>He's probably wrong.</p><p>One-sided Niou-->Yukimura, from first year to their last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Few Times Niou Tried to Date a God

Yukimura's got a smile that nearly kills him.

 

He's got a laugh like that, too, which turns to little skippy, fluttery hiccups because Niou's pretty sure that Yukimura has no lung capacity at all…until he plays tennis like a demon, until he shouts out a command that carries across the whole of the tennis court, until he belts out a solo in the musical that they're putting on for the next festival. 

 

It doesn't make sense. Niou wants to know how that all works, but mostly, he's usually too busy glazing over mentally whenever Yukimura starts giggling at one of his jokes. 

 

Shit, shit, shit. 

 

The problem really starts when Yukimura starts making his mouth go dry when they've known each other for a few months. Yukimura favors him from time to time, and even though Niou knows that Yukimura sometimes chooses his schemes over Sanada's logic just to irritate the stuffy asshat, it still feels good. He likes being the first choice. He likes it when Yukimura walks off with him just to make Sanada bristle. 

 

"Wanna go practice more?" Niou casually asks, because he knows that's the best way to make Yukimura's face light up. He doesn't want to practice more. He's tired, could be taking things apart, but he _does_ like the way Yukimura sparkles. 

 

He also likes the idea of being on a tennis court alone with him for once, minus a hovering Sanada and an analytical Yanagi and a bunch of weird upperclassmen always glowering at them.

 

It backfires, like most of his plans tend to, because Yukimura just sighs and shakes his head. "I already have plans. Maybe tomorrow, Niou."

 

It's always _maybe tomorrow_ at the end of it all. Niou shrugs it off--he doesn't really care, nope--and settles on asking more questions and proposing more ideas later. There's always a later, because he can always make Yukimura want to be around him when he can make Yukimura laugh.

 

~

 

"I," Yukimura begins one day, "have been informed that you have knowledge about hair dye."

 

 _Who told you_ is what Niou warily wants to ask at first, no matter how his hair is very bleached, very white, and very crunchy. Yukimura's staring at him with those wide eyes of his, though, and that makes it really damn difficult to hide things.

 

"Maybe," Niou says instead.

 

Now, his eyes are glinting. "Enlighten me." 

 

This is how Yukimura ends up with purple-blue hair (which his mother thinks is infinitely stylish) and how Niou gets to have his hands buried in Yukimura's curls for a good fifteen minutes with no remorse. 

 

Now would be a good time to sit in Yukimura's lap and maybe kiss him or--

 

Niou is pretty sure he used to be good at this 'picking up dates' thing, fuck.

 

~

 

Niou wants to smack himself for thinking that Yukimura is stupidly, _ridiculously_ cute when he's standing next to a sunflower that's a good head's height above him, beaming at the success of it all. He hates the way that Yukimura is so content to get dirty, the way that he practically revels in the filth of it all. There's mud underneath his fingernails, coating his palms, streaks of it across his cheeks and his hair is yanked back in one messy clip that doesn't do the best job of holding it back.

 

Niou wants to roll in the dirt with him.

 

"What're you growing, boss?"

 

He's also got a stupid hat on, wide-brimmed and shielding his eyes from the sun. When Yukimura smiles, Niou feels something twist into his belly. He hates that, too. "If I tell you, are you going to flirt with them like last time?"

 

 _I could flirt with you instead_ is the pick-up line on the tip of his tongue, but Niou strangles it down in favor of just plopping down to the ground next to him. Shit, but he's afraid of ruining this. "They like it."

 

"They're my children!"

 

"Yeah, well. I'm a cradle-robber." Yukimura is a solid three months younger than him. That counts, right? 

 

~

 

The thing about Yukimura Seiichi is that he's Niou's best friend.

 

He's not sure how it turned out that way. He's pretty sure that Yagyuu is supposed to be his best friend, but 'best friend' isn't always synonymous with 'guy you want to spend every fucking moment in bed with.' 

 

He realizes that pretty quickly when Yukimura's in the hospital and his chest aches and twists every time he thinks about it. Yukimura looks so wan, so pale, so fucking tired all the time, no matter how that smile is still in place. He can still make Yukimura laugh, which is good. It's worth skipping all his classes for him, especially when he doesn't give a shit about them, anyway.

 

Yukimura's so lonely that it would be worth it even if he did care.

 

The hospital rooms are void of color, and it's just weird. Niou's used to Yukimura's room, covered in trophies and artwork. He's used to Yukimura's wardrobe outside of school, patterns and color and weird socks and leggings that are a joke among the team. He's used to the Rikkai uniforms in bright, brilliant warning-sign yellow, the jersey that Yukimura always proudly sets upon his shoulders and keeps there without a single fucking care.

 

That part he can fix, at least. 

 

"Yo, boss." 

 

It's like letting a prisoner out to see the sun for the first time in months--okay, well, maybe that's too dramatic, but that's how Niou _feels_ about the times that they let Yukimura out onto the roof. Those are his good days, even though he's still trailing an IV stand. Yukimura blinks when Niou sets his jersey about his shoulders, and then kind of…crumples.

 

Well, fuck. Niou didn't want that to happen.

 

"Sorry--" Yukimura says before _he_ can say it, and he huddles underneath his jersey, breath hiccuping a little. "Sorry. Just…I--thank you." 

 

There's a lump in his throat, and that's no good at all. Niou nods all the same, and flops down onto the bench next to him. He's not good at this, so he just head butts Yukimura's shoulder. Seems appropriate, at any rate. "I've got you covered, boss." 

 

He does, for better or for worse. He could have turned that into a pick-up line, too, but the words die on his lips.

 

~

 

The biggest problem is when he can't make Yukimura laugh anymore. 

 

Plus, Yukimura is in the hospital and stubbornly refusing to accept the fact that he's hooked up to IVs and a heart monitor and occasionally on oxygen. It's weird. It's creepy. Niou hates the way that his skin is pale and the way that he ends up dozing off in the middle of conversations sometimes. 

 

He hates it less when he comes to visit and Yukimura falls asleep next to him, because Niou's not afraid of crawling right into that narrow bed with him. He doesn't fit all that well, because even if they're the same height, Yukimura is long and lean where he's broad and solid. 

 

It does, however, make Yukimura's back fit very nicely against his chest. Niou curls up around him, imagining himself to be some big cat, and he tries not to listen to the strange noises that Yukimura's lungs make, or the way that his skin randomly prickles with goosebumps, or those weird shivers that make Niou want to pet him until it all stops. 

 

"I think," Yukimura murmurs, half-asleep, "that you would have made the worst vice-captain ever." 

 

Niou flops an arm over Yukimura's hip. "Wasn't aware that I was even in the running." Shit, that would have been weird. Kinda cool, though, and it makes his heart beat a little bit faster. 

 

"I threatened Sanada with it," Yukimura sleepily reveals, his eyes fluttering shut, "whenever he was bad."

 

Niou doesn't know what 'bad' entails, but it brings a smile to his lips all the same. _I'm pretty good at being bad, too, boss_ is the pick-up line he contemplates, but Yukimura's asleep, and that's good right now. 

 

~

 

After the surgery, Yukimura doesn't talk to much of anyone at first. 

 

He's still in the hospital for a few days afterwards, and Niou goes to visit. He doesn't expect to be allowed in. He doesn't expect much of anything, because, well, shit, they fucked up. 

 

At least he and Yagyuu won.

 

Yukimura's sitting up, wearing nothing but sweatpants when he's perched on the edge of the bed, glaring out the open window. Niou has to grimace, because his back is a mottled mess of blue and purple around the incision, staples patching skin together. 

 

"Yo, boss."

 

Yukimura's head twitches. He needs his roots touched up. "Hey."

 

"Puri." Niou plops down onto the bed, perching on the other side of it. He leans back a little, until his head knocks back against Yukimura's, until he feels Yukimura's weight sag back into his own as well. It's mostly in his shoulders, and Niou considers it balance training of sorts. He doesn't want to lean back too far and make Yukimura press that ugly proof of his surgery onto him. That seems like it would hurt a _lot_. "How're you feeling?"

 

"Like I want to kill someone." 

 

Niou starts to say _I could help you with that_ or _I'm the man for the job, then, I've always got your back_ , but it doesn't come out. Instead, he feels sick. Yukimura's a lot of things. He's an asshole, he's conceited, he's an egomaniac. He's also one of the nicest people Niou's met, because shit, he'll be friends with anyone (except that guy from Okinawa) and even if they're weird as fuck or mean to him, he'll never say a nasty word about them behind their backs. Niou knows; he's tried to get him to say shit like that all the time, only for Yukimura to walk off in the middle of the conversation. He can feel the tension in Yukimura's shoulders that has nothing to do with pain--at least, nothing _physically_ painful. 

 

There's a temptation deep inside of him that wants to come out. He wants to grab Yukimura and kiss him and tell him _hey, this is Sanada's fault, I know he's pissed you off, but you've still got me, I've got this_ \--

 

But there's no fucking way he can do that.

 

"I know you're mad, but you need to talk to him."

 

Yukimura's head jerks, and Niou straightens, swallowing hard as he waves one hand. "Yeah. I know. I don't do the talking thing. I hate the talking thing. But seriously--you and Sanada--"

 

"Niou--"

 

"No, fucking listen to me. Patch shit up with him, boss. He's crying in corners and lurking around and wanting us to slap him and seriously, just talk to him." 

 

_I could take so much advantage of this situation. I could do it, I really could, but--_

 

Niou shakes his head. "You two are…ugh, you're gross, just talk to him."

 

_You're meant to be with him, and I can't see it any other way._

 

~

 

Is this what it means to be someone's best friend?

 

The problem is that Niou doesn't even feel like he's been placed as 'second best' in Yukimura's mental rankings for boyfriends. How could he? He's never made a move. He's never demanded a kiss or stolen one or climbed into his lap and boy, were their opportunities. Countless opportunities; he knows, because he's tried to keep a tally.

 

He doesn't feel bitter at all when he watches Sanada and Yukimura quietly conferring in a corner after Nationals, though. There's the tiniest, tired smile on the corner of Yukimura's lips, and Sanada's trying not to cry. Kirihara's still hugging Yukimura's jersey to his chest, so Sanada's jersey is the one that goes around Yukimura's sagging shoulders. It fits better right now, because it's bigger, and Yukimura's exhausted enough that his posture is really not fit for something that won't just drape. 

 

Niou doesn't feel bitter at all, not when he's so fucking sure that all the times he bit his tongue were the right choices to make. 

 

"Hey, boss."

 

Holding out his hand to Yukimura after they accept the second place trophy is met with a firm, albeit shaky clasp, and Yukimura smiles for _real_. It's the first time Niou's seen that in awhile, and even though it kind of makes his throat go dry still, he's so, so glad. "Really nice game," he manages to rasp out.

 

"Less nice on your part," is Yukimura's quietly critical response, but there's laughter in the words, and Niou is pretty sure he's never been handed a better compliment.

 

This isn't what he planned on, but it's still right up there. As far as his current life goes, Niou thinks he's reached a pinnacle. 

 


End file.
